Heather*Mama's Blog

Our Nightmare Before Christmas began last Monday...

In a rush to leave our sitter gas money for taking the kids to school and then hurrying to get out the door to catch my train, I inadvertently left a bank envelope with $700 of our Christmas money on the coffee table in our living room. It was all too late when I finally realized the mistake I'd made. Her shopping had been done that day while we were working hard at the office... We filed a police report over the incident, fully expecting that nothing could be done. The sitter had been fired. We chalked it up as a dumb mistake and decided to move on. Besides, we already had a few nice gifts for the kids, they would have to do.

Then, a family member graciously gifted us $500 of their own money to put towards Christmas gifts for the kids. We were so grateful! Thursday night we went shopping for the 5 children. $100 each doesnt go far, but we shopped carefully and from clearance aisles and left the stores with alot of gifts for the money.

The next day, Friday, when we returned home from work, we found our back door had been kicked in and all of the gifts for the children had been taken. Nothing else was touched. Not any of the TVs, not DVD players, not the computers, no jewelry was missing, just the gifts for the children. And these had been hidden in the master bedroom in an antique trunk, not from robbers, but from the curious childrens' prying eyes.

The thieves went straight for the master bedroom. Besides all of the gifts, our 9 year old son's PS2 was taken along with its games and accessories. The only thing not belonging to the children which was taken was our brand new Kirby vacuum which had been left in the corner of the living room. All of its accessories which we kept mounted to the wall in the laundry room were taken as well.

Without a doubt we know who did it. It was the sitter, she'd come back for what, revenge for being fired? It was blatant retaliation and it was aimed to hurt us the most, by hurting our children.

We made a second police report. Fingerprints and footprints were collected by Forensics. We did some detective work on our own and found out where the sitter and her boyfriend were staying for the night. (We discovered he is a wanted felon with an active warrant for burglary of a habitat, no less!) They were in Sherman. We knew the exact address and had someone driving by to keep an eye on them until the police could pick him up, at least for his warrant, and this way we would feel a little more safe. But alas, the Garland police who we made the initial reports with would not do anything until this Wednesday when an investigator is assigned. All the while, the crooks have returned all our merchandise I'm sure and are enjoying our cash. So we contacted the Sherman police, who incidentally could not take action until Galrand PD issued a Tele-Type to them.

So after being victimized twice in one week, and at Christmas of all times, we felt helpless and defeated by the police departments that we depended on to protect us.

When word of what happened spread through our family, friends and co-workers. Their response was miraculous! My husband's employer gave us $500 cash. Family members gave almost $300 and offered their credit cards for us to use to replace the gifts. My wonderful Mommy group, Mommies in Texas, collected over $600 for us! Plus additional family members pitched in with gifts for the kids. For such a horrible thing to happen to us at such a wonderful time of year, we were shown what true friends we have and how blessed we are to have them in our lives.

Our story had a happy ending. The kids awoke to find a mound of gifts under the tree. It was so heart-warming to watch them open their gifts and know that they had no idea the hardships we had been enduring.

And while the criminals are yet to be caught, or even sought by our Garland police, we know they will get what is coming to them, if not by the justice system, then at least by God...